How to clean the beehive

How to clean the beehive?

   In the winter months, as soon as I think my beehive is full of bees and honey, I am in the mood to check all my bee equipment, replace and renovate them. I want to get all my equipment ready so that I can start at the peak of the Spring Festival transportation. All my bee boxes, super boxes and deep boxes, bases, grooved racks, inner and outer covers, eliminators and frames have been carefully inspected. I will not hesitate to throw away the outdated things. But for the rest, I renovated it for a few more seasons.

Step 1: Check and freeze

   First, cover the whole working area with kraft paper or plastic waterproof cloth to facilitate cleaning. Remove the beehive, put all the old pull frames in the big refrigerator for at least 24 hours, and then clean them. This can kill pests at all stages, such as the wax moth.

Step 2: Wood hardener or discard

   Apply wood hardener to any soft spots to protect the wood from further decay. If that place is too bad, leave a hole in your beehive and throw it away! The hole leads to a new entrance that encourages robbery.

Step 3: Scratch

   Yes, bees will coat everything with wax and propolis. You need to scrape it off with your hive tool, so that your boxes can be tightly combined. I scrape all the excess wax into a pile, clean it and melt it in my crockpot for later use. Special care should be taken when cleaning the inner corners of the box and the frame slide rails, as they provide ideal corners and gaps that may harbor pests and pathogens. It is a good idea to remove the old frame rails and replace them with new ones. To clean your box, you can even take a propane torch and run it around the inside of the hive, which will make it dark brown. But be careful not to let your hives catch fire!

Step 4: Paint

   Paint the exterior with primer and one or two coats of paint, not the interior. If it has been painted, please give the box an extra coat. Paint will certainly prolong the service life of your equipment.

Step 5: Storage

   Any frame with honey on it is called wet frame. I store them in the refrigerator so that they can be taken out at any time when I need to feed bees in spring. If I draw combs or dry frames, I will store them in my potted plant shed and stack the boxes at a 90 degree angle to let light in, because wax moths don't like light. I also put a mousetrap around any wax comb, because rats will nest in the frame and wreak havoc. I often check the frames I keep to make sure the wax moth doesn't start invading.